In 1982, the Minneapolis Police Band celebrated its 65th Anniversary.
As part of the celebration, band members were featured in a story in the Minneapolis StarTribune.
The band was comprised of police and civilian musicians and was led by Officer Robert Falk.
Of the band, Officer Falk said as he poured coffee in the band office at the Bryant Precinct Station, “It’s a labor of love, it really is. We have a good band because of the dedication of the members….The members do it for fun, so you have to maintain the enthusiasm, and you have to let them know that they are needed.”
One of the civilian members, Valerie Cowdery, was a young woman of 27 years of age. Women had only been admitted to the band in 1969 and so she was asked about her experiences. Ms. Cowdery said that the fact that she is a woman had never been a problem in the band and that she found a degree of friendship amongst the musicians that had been missing in the community bands that she had played with previously.
Ms. Cowdery also said that joining the Minneapolis Police Band had expanded her horizons. She said that she found that police officers were just like anyone else. Of the Minneapolis Police Band she said, “There are people of many age groups and socioeconomic backgrounds in the band, and I learned that you have to respect the opinions of people of all groups.”
The longest-serving member of the Minneapolis Police Band in 1982 was J. Emmett Hannon who had joined the band in 1919 only two years after its founding.
Mr. Hannon was the retired president of a small private detective agency. At 88 years of age, he had given up marching in parades but still played in every band concert because, in his words, “the Minneapolis Police Band is just too much fun.”
This year, the Minneapolis Police Band celebrates its 101st Anniversary!
Stories and photographs from the Minneapolis StarTribune of August 14, 1982